Skipton and Ripon.

A 99.5% party-line voter, Julian Smith has nevertheless broken with Conservative colleagues twice in the past year on matters of principle: backing the Tobacco and Vapes Bill at third reading in March 2025 and, more recently, supporting extended subsidies for Drax's biomass energy in June 2025 -- the latter putting him at odds with most of his party on climate and energy grounds. His recent parliamentary activity has been dominated by consistent opposition to the government's Pension Schemes Bill, where he has voted repeatedly alongside the Lords to resist ministers gaining powers to direct pension fund investments into specific asset classes -- a stance that aligns with his near-total record of backing Lords scrutiny.

Smith participates in 71% of votes, slightly below the Commons average, and his speeches -- 104 contributions across 81 debates -- cluster around the economy, defence, crime, and local government. He scores 100% on parliamentary and Lords scrutiny measures, 88% pro-business, and 87% anti-tax-increases, reflecting a broadly orthodox Conservative outlook. His deviation from party peers is most notable on pension protection, where he sits 39 percentage points below the Conservative average.

Locally, his coverage has been positive and active: he has raised Skipton safety concerns in the Commons, challenged the Education Secretary on statutory autism training, opposed a North Yorkshire tourism tax as a threat to hospitality businesses, and pressed for better rural smart meter connectivity. He holds no current committee positions. Voting data and news coverage are available through April 2026; speech transcripts confirm regular recent engagement.